Day: July 1, 2011

I took EMT training. I wanted to be a combat medic when I was a kid but health reasons kept me out. Still, always loved the medic as they just seemed to be the coolest guys on the planet. Yes, I know, some will deride, but loved the idea of trying to save people. Anyway, two AP stories, one sad, one proud. Remember our medics.

CONCORD, N.H. — A soldier from New Hampshire has died of injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit in Afghanistan.

Twenty-one-year-old Nicholas Bernier of East Kingston was a combat medic with the 10th Mountain Division stationed in Fort Polk, La. His death was announced Thursday by the division, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.

Insurgents using small arms fire attacked his unit in the Kharwar district of Afghanistan on June 22. Bernier died June 25 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

Bernier joined the Army in March 2008. He arrived at Fort Polk in April 2010 and deployed with his unit in October.

His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Army Achievement medal, and others.

He is survived by his parents, brothers and a sister.

And on the other end of the spectrum…

AVON, Conn. — A 31-year-old sailor from Connecticut has been awarded the Silver Star for his actions in combat in Afghanistan.

The Hartford Courant reports that Petty Officer First Class Amilcar Rodriguez, a 1998 graduate of Avon High School, received the nation’s third-highest award for valor in combat as well as the Purple Heart during a ceremony on June 24 at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

The Navy says Rodriguez, a medic, was shot three times on Nov. 6, 2009, while rescuing a wounded Marine. Officials say he continued to oversee that Marine’s treatment and treated other wounded colleagues, despite his own serious injuries.

Rodriguez is now assigned to the Naval Special Operations Medical Institute at Fort Bragg.

Friend of the blog, Terry Hicks, sent me this email below. Help out the PGR if you can and give our soldiers a good send off. Kinda appropriate to be occurring on the July 4 holiday if you ask me.

The PGR will be escorting the 1644th Transportation Company out or Rock Falls on Monday, 04 JUL 11 as they prepare to deploy to Afghanistan. The mission post is HERE. For OPSEC reasons the post does not mention their destination which is the Peoria Airport.

It would be very much appreciated if some of you could pick up the escort (on the fly – the busses will not be stopping anywhere) to give these troopers the send-off they deserve. They will be traveling from Rock Falls to Peoria on U.S. 40. A couple of possibilities for a pick up point would be where 40 crosses I-80, maybe at the Hennepin State Park? Closer to Peoria, there is a Road side park on U.S. 40 about two miles West then two miles North of Camp Grove.

KSU out of Rock Falls is 0700 hrs so that would put them at the above mentioned locations as follows (times are estimates on my part – be early – I ain’t all that bright):

Junction of U.S. 40 and I-80: 0725 hrs

Road side park near Camp Grove: 0745 hrs

If you want to pick them up anywhere else, you do the math for times.

And remember, U.S. 40 is a two lane highway. Please use caution when trying to catch up with the escort.

Please pass this along to those you know who might be interested and THANK YOU all for your help.